[Rounding up the weekend while waiting to hear Best Coast talk about cats on “Morning Becomes Eclectic” at 11:15:] Top 5 shows compiled while stewing over why Stars and the Pains of Being Pure at Heart aren’t playing their L.A. concert together: ‣ There some pretty amateurish choreography in the gleeful video for Mayer Hawthorne’s […]
Back in the days of impulse buys and agonizing over judging a CD by its cover, I dropped some paycheck on “Nightsongs,” the first album by Stars. Maybe I noted the cover of “This Charming Man,” or possibly I sampled the music in one of those then-revolutionary listening stations at Fingerprints. I don’t remember which, […]
White Sea, the new solo project from M83 keyboardist-singer Morgan Kibby, will headline “A Night With Buzz Bands LA” on Saturday, Nov. 20, at Spaceland. Los Angeles quintet Hello Dragon, teenage-sensation-turned-indie-popper Teddy Geiger and Scottish sextet Dananananaykroyd will support. Doors are 8:30. Tickets are $8. White Sea – Recently released its debut EP, “This Frontier,” […]
“I got an obsession,” Billy Scher and Marc Gilfry repeat in “Lately,” their first single as American Royalty. But after you’ve ridden the song’s roller-coaster for 4 1/2 minutes, you realize the fixations L.A. songwriters have at least a couple of fixations – grimy synths and dirty blues rock among them. Full of samples and […]
[Birthday greetings go out today to L.A. roots legend Dave Alvin …] Tonight’s top picks on a night making top picks is damned hard: ‣ The Soft Pack (that’s their Gia Coppola/Sam Freilich-directed video for “More or Less,” above) return to their home based for a show at the Echoplex with Kurt Vile & the […]
[Birthday greetings to Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World …] Tonight’s top 3 shows: ‣ Colorado’s Candy Claws (that’s their video for “Silent Time on Earth,” above) visit the Bootleg Theater, supported by Chain Gang of 1974. Candy Claws’ latest album “Hidden Lands” offers some pretty compelling lush orchestral pop – we gave you a […]
Like the murder ballad from which the band derives its name, there’s melancholy (if not subterfuge) in velveteen harmonies and languid atmospherics of “Into Yr Mind,” the first single from L.A. newbies Young Hunting. The quintet – singer-guitarists Ilya Malinsky and Hari Rex, bassist Patrick Taylor, keyboardist Tim Phillips and drummer Miles Senzaki – recently […]
[My vacation is over and it’s back to business. Like wishing Sam Sparro a happy birthday…] Top rock stops if you’re not headed to Night 3 of Florence + the Machine: ‣ Busy boys, those Chasing Kings. They kicked off their Silverlake Lounge residency last week and allowed as how they’re holing up in the […]
Favorite shows on a huge weekend: ‣ Dr. Dog, Here We Go Magic and Good Old War tonight at the Wiltern ‣ Cold War Kids tonight at the Glass House in Pomona and Saturday at Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown ‣ Small Black and Class Actress tonight at the Echo ‣ Colour Revolt and the […]
Tonight’s top stuff: ‣ The Rumble at 3 Clubs, the monthly free show, brings Austin’s Ume (pictured) to town to play with two L.A.-based artists, J. Irvin Dally and the Smiles. ‣ Le Switch celebrates the release of its second album, “The Rest of Me Is Space,” at Spaceland. Mississippi Man and Big Whup play […]
